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(No Model.) 2 vSheets-Sheet 1. A. M. ENGLISH.-

BNGRAVING MACHINE. No. 510,905.. f Patented Dec. 19, 1893..,

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A. M. ENGLISH.

ENGRAVING MACHINE.

e Ne. 510,905.

Petented Dee. 19, 1893.,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANALDO M. ENGLISH, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN JAOOBsON, OF SAME ILAQE.

ENGRAVING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming partof Letters Patent No. 510,905, 'dated December 19, 1893.

Application filed February 13, 1393. Serial No. 462,128. (No model.)

seits, have invented an Improvement in Rul- VIO ing-Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the Adrawings representing like parts.

My invention is embodied in a machine especially intended for ruling or engraving tine lines upon a conical or cylindrical or approximately conical or cylindrical object, the invention relating especially to the feed mechanism for advancing the tool between the consecutive rulings or lines and being applicable to other uses, requiring a minute and uniform feed.

The apparatus is shown as employed for engraving or ruling a line in successive convolutions about a conical or pyramidal object such for example as a gem, the object being to produce lines or striations that are very close together and uniformly spaced so that the striated surface will decompose the light falling upon it, giving an iridescence to the said surface, or to the light reflected therefrom, and thus enhancing the brilliancy if the object is a gen1. Y

Ther rulings when applied to a cone or cylinder are in the form of a' continuous spiral line around the axis wthereof but the successive convolutions of the spiral are so close together as to give substantially the effect of parallel rulings in planes at right angles .to the axis of the article ruled. The said article is rotated at uniform speed with its surface presented to the tool or graver and it is necessary to give the graver a very slow and uniform movement lengthwise of the slant height of the object, if it be a cone or pyramid, 'or parallel with its axis if it be a cylinder. In order to effect this result, either'the article being engraved and the means for rotating it, or the tool is mounted upon a carriage adapted to have the-required feed movement, and as shown in this instance the tool isfed with relation to the obj ect which has only the rotary motion required to carry the marking -of the tool around its surface. The feed movement is produced by the force of gravity and vis controlled by the flow of a fluid which ing therefor. Y `scale than the other figures.

gives an extremely uniform feed capable of easy regulation. The tool post is supported upon the side of a heavy vertical cylinder or carriage having a cylindrical bore containing a stationary plunger between which and a l transverse Wall or head of the cylinderis confined the controlling fluid, and there is an adjustable vent topermit the gradual uniform escape of the Huid under the pressure due to the weight of the cylinder which thus descends slowly and with great uniformity. Means are also provided for raising the cylinder'between the different feed operations and for guiding the same in its movement and for controlling the position of the article being engraved, all of said parts being constructed to attain extreme accuracy of relative movement of the tool to the surface acted upon by it, and to prevent any displacement or inaccuracy in said relative movement from lost motion of the parts.

Figure l is a sideelevation of a ruling machine embodying this invention; Fig. 2 aplan View thereof; Fig. 3 a'longi'tudinal vertical section on line x, Fig. 2; Fig.4a longitudinal sectional detail on line y, Fig. 2, of a Vportion of the guiding mechanism for the feed cylinder; Fig. 5 a transverse sectional .detail on line e, Figs. 1 and 4, of said guide mechanism; Fig. 6 a vertical sectional'detail on line x6, Fig. 2, of the tool support, and Fig. '7 a sectional detail on line Q27, Fig. 3,0f the arbor for carrying the article to be ruled and the bear- Figs. 6 and 7 are Yon a rlarger The machine is provided with a horizontal bed a having rigidly fixed thereto, at one end,

a vertical guide Way 'a2 having the guides c3,

n.4, upon Which'the vertical feed carriage runs, one of said guide ways as as being shown as flat or plane and the other CL4-as V-shaped,and the corresponding surfaces of the feed cylinder or carriage b being pressed against the said guide surfaces by springs a5, see Figs. 4. and 5, abutting against pins or studsot6 in the vertical guide Way and pressing against longitudinal shoulders o7 on the carriage b. The

v said carriage b is itself4 provided with a longitudinal guide way b2 upon which may be fastened at any desired height the tool post or support c, upon which is fastened the tool ICO or graver (Z in any suitable manner, the specilic means for supporting the tool being hereinafter described. The said tool post c is securely clamped in adjustable position upon the guide b2 by any suitable or usual means, such for example as the bolt and clamping handle c2 shown in Figs. 1 and 3. The said cylinder is provided with a longitudinal bore b3 in its lower position and a transverse par tition b4, see Fig. 3, forming an end wall or head for said bore, and a chamber or reservoir h5 above the said partition. The said cylinder bore b3 at the lower portion of the cylinder receives within it, the plunger e which rests upon but is not fastened to the base ct and is thus not liable to bind in the bore of the cylinder which is provided at its lower end with packing b to make a fluid tight joint around the plunger e.

In the space bm, of the cylindrical bore b3 between the plunger e and partition b4 a fluid is confined which should be of such character as to be as little variable as possible in density7 and fluidity, glycerine being well adapted for this purpose, and the said plunger and liquid will sustain the weight of the cylinder which can descend under the force of gravity only as said fiuid is permitted to escape from the space 530, so that the uniformity of outow of the fluid will insure uniformity in rate of descent of the cylinder which may thus be fed with a slow uniform movement and with far greater uniformity than can be obtained by ordinary mechanical feed mechanism, such for example as produced by a screw or gearing. In order to provide for and regulate the escape of the fluid under the space 1230, the part b4 is provided with a passage Z940, terminating at its lower end in a valve seat within which is seated a Valve f connected with a tubular valve stem f2 eX- tended up through the cap b5, closing the up perend of the reservoir b5 in the cylinder, and being there acted upon by a spring f3 which tends to press the tubular valve stem upward and thus draw the valve f tightly to its seat in the lower end of' the passage Z240. The said valve stem is provided with a lateral port or opening f4 communicating with the interior of the reservoir b5.

The valve f itself is tubular and has its bore substantially filled by the lower end of a rod f6 the upper end of which is screwthreaded as shown at f7 and works in an in ternal thread in the tube f2 the upper end of said rod being preferably depressed below the end of the tube so as not to be accidentally disturbed, but being easily accessible by a screw-driver or equivalent device when it is desired to turn the said rod to screw it up or down the tube.

The lower end of the rod g is provided with a tapering groove f8 which is contained within the bore of the valve f and thus forms a vent passage from the chamber b3@ which is adjustable by moving the said rod f6 up or down so as to bring a shallower or deeper portion of the said groove at the end of the bore in the valve f thus making a larger or smaller ori- (ice for the escape of the liquid. Thus the speed of the descent of the cylinder b under the action of gravity may be varied and adjusted by adjusting the rod f6 and thus varying the eective size of the orifice through which the liquid escapes from the chamber 530, while uniformity of the said movement at any determined speed depends upon the uniformity of flow of the iuid itself which under these conditions is extremely uniform. The liquid after passing through the orifice at the end of the groove f8 passes up through the tubular valve stem f2 and flows out through the lateral opening f4 thereof into the reservoir b5 in the upper part of the feed carriage.

When the carriage is raised after a downward feed movement has been completed and preparatory for another feed operation, the liquid will iiow back from the reservoir b5 through the passage b4,into the chamber 530, by unseatng the valve f and if it is necessary at any time to give the cylinder a quick downward movement independent of its feed movement this can be done by depressing the valve stem and unseating the valve and thus permitting a rapid outiiow of the liquid from the chamber b3, through the passage 134, around the valve. It is not essential that the vent passage should be contained in the valve. An adjustable vent passage such as shown might be made at another point in the partition b from that containing the valve controlled return passage b4", but by the arrange ment shown it is necessary to make only one passage through the said partition. A convenient means for raising the cylinder is shown as comprising a rod g passing through a suitable stuffing boX g2 at the lower end of a tube g extending from the partition b4 up through the cap 1150, and screw-threaded at its upper end to co-operate with a screw threaded rod g5 upon which is mounted a crank g6 which may be fastened to said screw threaded rod at any desired height by a key or clamp 97. When it is desired to raise the cylinder the crank gG is fastened to the rod at some distance above the upper end of the tube g3 and the said rod is then turned by the said crank in such direction as to screw it down into the tube g3 when it comes to a bearing on the end of the rod g5 and the latter comes to a bearing on the plunger e, so that the cylinder travels up along the rod g5 as the latter is rotated'until it is brought to the desired height, and when the apparatus is ready for the next feed movement the screw g is merely run up a distance equal to or greater thanthe complete feed movement desired thus leaving the cylinder free to descendunder control of the escaping liquid.

By the means thus far described thetool d may be fed downward with an extremely 3 uniform rate of movement and with as slow or` minute a movement as may be desired, and` it is necessary only to give the article to be IOO acted upon by said tool such movements as are' necessary in order to cause the proper.

yuniform speed while the graver d is present# ed to its surface and travels along the slant height thereof in' the feed movement before described. The means for thus rotating the article h are supported upon a carriage i mounted upon the bed a of the machine and adapted to be set in adjusted position thereon in the usual manner, the said carriage having an upright t2 provided at its upper end with a horizon tal boro 'i3 in which is contained the cylindrical stem 7c of a frame piece k2 having brackets k3, k4, containing the bearings for the arbor in by which the article h is rotated. The stemlc can be turned in the socket i? and clamped at any desired angular'positiontherein by'a clamping key 4 and thus the axis of the arbor m may be adjusted to any desired position in a vertical plane, it being set vertically if the side of a cylinder is to be acted upon, or being set at an angle corresponding to the angle of the cone or pyramid, when as shown in this instance, an ar# ticle of 4that kind is to be operated upon, thus bringing the slant height of the said article that is at any time presented' to the graverd into a vertical position, or vin other words, parallel with the line of feed movement of said graver d as is clearly shown. The said arbor m is shown as hollow or tubular and contains a spring chuckvn the outer surface of the jaws of which are tapering and enter a tapering socket in the end of the arbor so that by drawingthe chuck into the arbor its jaws are closed upon .the article h as clearly shown in Fig. 3. The said chuck is connected with a rod n2 extending throughv the arbor and acted upon by a s'pringns tending to close the chuck, audit can beopened at any .time by merely pressing the end of the rod against the stress of the spring. In order to prevent any end motion of the arbor it is pro-V vided in one of its bearings with a number of annular ribs m2 entering corresponding annular grooves in the bearing bracket 7c3 and the cap member ks of said bracket, lsee Fig. 7, which is connected with the fixed member of the bracket by steady pins k6 and pressed toward the arborbya spring k7 so as to maintain a constant pressure between the ribs m? and the grooves and thus prevent any end shake of the arbor fm. The said arbor is driven by means of a worm gear m3, meshing. with a worm m4, on a shaft m5, having its bearings in the frame piece k2, and provided with a pulley m5 to which power is applied of such character as to rotate theA lsaid shaft Awith as great uniformity of speed as possible.

As before stated, the graving tool d is supported upon a block or tool post c which is vertically adjustable on the feed cylinder b.

vIn order to provide for the free adjustment of said'tool and to maintain properpressure of the tool against the surface acted upon and to permit the tool to yield or move, forward and backward to follow the surface of a pyramid, it is supported upon a slide Z2 movable toward and from the article h being` acted upon in a transverse guide way on a pla'te d3 longitudinally adjustable on the top of ythe tool post @being fixed when properly adj usted by means of a clamping screw or equivalent clamping device d4. The said slide is pressed forward by one arm of an angular plate or.

elbow lever r pivoted at r2 and acted upon by` a spring r3 the force of which may be readily adjusted by means of a screw r4 and nut r5, as clearly shown in Fig. 6. The shank of the screw r is flattened and drops into a notch in theupper end 0f the post d5 fixed upon the plate cl3 while the nut T5 bears against a suitable'seat formed in the side of the post. The

flattening of the sorewpreventsits rotation. while the nut is being turned to adjust the strength of the spring and the spring maybe readily disconnected Awhen Adesired to wholly remove the tool from the article,.by simply pulling the nut r5 back from ,its seat inthe post d5 and then lifting the screw r4 out from thenotch in the post. The nu't 15 is split. and

IOO

has its ends bent together slightly so.' as to exert a frictional pressure on thefscrew to prevent accidental turning. The spring r3 connects with the plate fr above its pivot r2 as shown in Fig. 6, as weil as at one side on the ment ofthe lever r with the tool plate cl2. and thus the tension of the spring both tends to press the arm of the lever .r down upon the plate d2 as will be understood fromFig. 6 and at the same time tends to press theplate'd2 forward toward the article h being acted upon.

[05 line from the pivot 'r2 to the point of engagel Thus all lost motion between the tool and its guide is avoided, and preferably the guide su'rface on which the tool slide d? rests has three high points as indicated bythe 'small dotted circles, Fig. 2, thus giving the tool slide a tripod form of support tg obviate any tendency to looseness'owing to imperfect iittingof `its rate relative movement of the tool to the surf face operated upon is attained, and as before intimated the apparatus may be used for rulbearing. By these means an extremely accu-,-

ing lines about the surface of a cylinder by. setting the axis of the arbor m vertically or parallel with the feed movement of the tool, or

it can be used for ruling a spiral on the face of a disk by setting the saidarborin horizontal position, Vor it can rulethe surface of a cone by setting the arbor at proper angle" to bring'` the feed movements parallel'with the slant, height of the cone presented to theto'ol hor substantially so, and the yielding movement of the tool toward and from the articlewill accommodate slight irregularities in the surface such as may result from accidental imperfections, and will cause it to act upon the surfaces that are intentionally formed only approximate to a cone or cylinder such for example as upon a many sided pyramid or prism.

It is obvious that the details of construction can be varied without departing from the invention, it being for example immaterial whether the work or tool is carried in the feed movement, which is essentially only a relative movement of the one with relation to the other, and it is also immaterial whether the cylinder or the plunger is moved by gravity under the control of the escaping liquid, as either might be made to be the movable and the other thc stationary member ef these co-operating parts.

I claiml. The herein described feed mechanism comprising a cylinder and plunger or equivalent, one restrained from movementI and the other impelled to move, underasubstantially constant driving force, and a fluid confined between said parts, combined witha tool su pport connected with one of said parts; and a support for the material to be operated upon by the tool, connected with the other of the said parts; and a vent or escape passage for the said `fluid whereby the feed, or relative movement of the tool and material operated upon by the same, is controlled substantially as described.

2. The combination of the feed cylinder and plunger and the fluid confined between the two, with an outlet passage from the space between said oylinderand plunger, the valve controlling said passage, and a vent passage through said valve for permitting a slow escape of the liquid while the valve is closed, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the feed cylinder and plunger with the valve and tubular valve stem and a regulating plug or rod provided with a tapering groove cooperating with a passage through the said valve and being adjustable with relation thereto, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the bed and vertical guide way with the plunger, supported ou said bed and the cylinder cooperating with said plunger and provided with guides cooperating with the said vertical guide way, and springs for holding the guide surfaces of the cylinder and guideway in contact, substantially as described.

5. The combination of the cylinder and plunger and vent passage from the space between the two, with the cylinder lifting rod g and screw g5, substantially as described.

6. The combination of the tool and tool car-4 rying slide (l2 withthe controlling lever o' cooperating with said tool slide and the spring connected with said lever and arranged with relation to the fulcrum thereof as described, whereby the said lever is caused to press the tool slide against its guides and also press it forward to the work, substantially as described.

7. 'lhe combination of the arbor provided with annular ribs fm2, and means to rotate the said arbor with the bearing provided with grooves engaged with said ribs, to restrain the said arbor from end motion, substantially as described.

8. The combination of the feed cylinder and plunger, one provided with a tool support and the other with a support for the material to be operated upon by said tool, and fluid confined between the two, with a reservoir in said cylinder, and a passage connecting said reservoir with the space between the plunger and cylinder, and a valve controlling the said passage, substantially as described.

9. The combination of the feed cylinder and plunger and lluid confined between the two, with a reservoir in said feed cylinder, a passage connecting said reservoir with the space between lthe plunger and cylinder, and

a plug adjustable in said passage provided with a groove constituting a vent for the escape of fluid from the space between the cylinder and plunger into the reservoir, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ANALDO M. ENGLISH. lVitnesses:

Jos. P. LIVERMORE, M. E. HILL. 

